A Tribute To Merle Haggard 1937-2016

The first thing I remember hearing Was a car radio with a country song playing A man singing while my mom was steering A song about heartache and pain That’s the day the good boy in me died When you sang “Mama tried” Country singers come and go Old songs hang the airwaves and are hardly played But you put on the best show People still listen to everything you said You were a Grand Ole Opry member Helping people make it through December Country music would not have done without your voice You sang small shows and large concerts You were everyone’s number one choice You wore different kind of hats, sang from your heart and won hearts The singing side of a fighter The fighting side of a songwriter You jumped freight trains and crossed highways Kept the wrong company and robbed stores You were soon to discover crime never pays When in prison you were tossed You could have escaped but decided not to leave You were tired of being a lonesome fugitive No more freight trains leaving town For now they put you in San Quentin But they could not keep you down For you were good with the pen and not quitting Soon you would be famous from Muskogee to Rome After you sang them back home One day you were free, the tide turned You took up a guitar, someone gave you a chance You wrote songs from things in life you had learned Your songs became hits and not just once Soon you would become a legend in your own right Like the legend of Bonnie and Clyde Wasn’t long before Nashville would admit That you were as good if not better than Jimmie Rodgers When you reached country music’s summit No more working man blues; you had your own bus Traveling all over the North American blue skies No more staring at your mama's hungry eyes Every time am down I play your records And get that old time rambling fever I wish i had seen one show to contribute applauds I wish i had swam next to you at Kern River Just like you and your ex-wives, am nobody’s fool I've got swinging doors a jukebox and a bar stool You got better along the years Country music changed; not your songs You still stood out among your peers You still sang to collect society’s wrongs Now you’re gone, you took that last freight train But today i started loving you again Are the good times really over? As you go to the last big city Say hello to George Jones if he is sober Hope we can hold on to your pal old Willie He is the last old man from the mountain I think And I think he will now just stay here and drink